Eleas LeRoux, Year of Our Lord 178_

Does life arise all around us all the time, from nothing? The theory that it does is called 'spontaneous generation' or 'equivocal generation'. Aristotle is among its proponents, and it has been the prevailing paradigm for two thousand years. When asked for proof, the most common example used is that of, with apologies to anyone disturbed by the image, maggots. These larvae seem to appear from nowhere at a certain point in the decay of meats. In the 17th and 18th-century scientific communities ((the question is more or less laid to rest by the end of 19th century with the fine work of Louis Pasteur)), this question is still open. Many of us have come to believe, at least, that not all life is spontaneously generated ... we know that many forms of life, including our own, have parents, i.e. is generative.

The late Francesco Redi, a Tuscan Renaissance man, poet, academician, physician to the legendary house of De' Medici, less than one hundred years ago conducted precise and methodical experiments to do with abiogenesis. He placed objects in jars, including fish and meat, and covered half of said jars with gauze, leaving the others open to the air. He observed that when flies could enter the jars, presumably to deposit their eggs, maggots would soon appear. When the jars were covered, the fish and meats would rot or dry out without any other effects. He then tried placing dead flies and live flies in jars, noting that the live flies produced maggots and the dead ones did not. After many careful experiments, he concluded that life comes from life -- not from the ether, but from parents of some kind, even when those parents are unseen to us.

There are still those, however, who argue that life can come from dung or air. They explain Redi's and other's experiments by explaining that jars restrict the flow of air, and covered jars restrict that flow further.

Given my recent experiments with optics, and my observation of insects, larva, and eggs, I am further convinced that life is not spontaneous, that it is generative. I cannot prove that there is no life that does not simply appear, but I believe that any life must have some heritage, that where there is life there are parents from whom it springs.

~Eleas LeRoux